Monday, August 28, 2017

Baptismo

Olá,

The past few weeks we have had a hard time finding new investigators but this week the hard work payed off and the blessings came in. By Thursday we still had not taught a lesson, Helder Sousa had been pretty busy and said the only time that he was available was at 8 in the morning so with adjusting our schedule we made it work and further explained the Book of Mormon to him. Then we had our final lesson and baptismal interview with Conceição. That afternoon we made about 80 contacts with out too much success then we decided to pass Margarita with whom we had spoken a week earlier. She welcomed us in and we taught her family (6 people) the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ we left at about 9 and had a thirty minute walk back to the house (We are supposed to return at 9:30-10 at the latest if we are teaching). Then Elder Alpizar contacted a man named Eduardo and we asked if we could enter his house and say a prayer with him, we entered said the pray and then taught him the Restoration also, he also accepted baptism when he receives his answer about the Book of Mormon. We left at 9:30 and walking fast returned at 10 after teaching 4 lessons!

In Pinhal Novo a few weeks ago a kid said to us "Why have you still not passed by my house? My family lives in this apartment building!". Friday we returned to Pinhal Novo and were tracting when we passed by that apartment and remembered the kid that told us to pass. We talked to his family but they were not interested so we knocked the building and found a man named Mario he welcomed us in and we taught him! It was a miracle!

Recently we have been studying the Donaldson papers which explain a simpler way of teaching with using pamplets and the pictures to explain the lessons in a clearer way, it has been great so far. I also learned that we should always teach the Restoration the first lesson(Unless the Spirit says to teach another) with investigators because then the other lessons make more sense.

A few weeks ago Elder Alpizar and I fasted for Conceição (A born and raised Catholic) that her heart would be opened to the Restored Gospel and that she would have the courage to make the change. That day Sister Foster who began teaching her a few months ago called her to see how she was doing. The next Sunday she wasn't feeling up to church but because of the call she decided to go, that day she accepted tithing and baptism. (When we arrived in the area she would go to church but did not want to abandon her religion) but when investigators go to church and feel the spirit their hearts are opened to the Restored Gospel and miracles happen. After passing the baptismal interview on Thursday, Saturday morning I called her to see how she was feeling about baptism and asked if she had any doubts or questions she replied "I don't have one doubt at all". That afternoon the branch made the trek to Baixa da Banheira for her baptism (Our chapel does not have a baptismal font) and she was baptized! She is half paralyzed so i was in the font also helping her go under the water and back up safely and Sunday she was confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Milagres!

Elder Fogg my good friend from EFY a few years ago is now our District leader! At district meeting he read a part in Gospel principles that stuck out to me. There were three stone cutters: One cut stones everyday, one cut three pieces of Gold everyday and one was helping to build the house of the Lord every day (The same job but different perspectives) then he applied this to our missionary work, it is a different mindset when you leave the house eager to teach the Restored Gospel and help others come unto Christ and His Atonement rather that leaving to "do contacts and pass people."

In Vasco Da Gama we have had a limit of one investigator at church every Sunday haha. Conceição attended every day for a while and we couldn't get any body else to come, but yesterday (after she was baptized and a member) Alex came to church! haha hopefully we will break this "limit" this week.

Até Proximo,
Elder Anderson

 The part of the eclipse that we could see
 Pão de Deus!
 Benfica



Monday, August 21, 2017

Seed Planting

Olá,

This week we planted a ton more seeds (introducing people to the Gospel) hopefully in the future when they see the missionaries they will remember what we said and accept the gospel. We have given out so many pass along cards that we are down to using the Christmas cards from a few years ago, haha.

Tuesday we had a branch cookout in Samouco and played a bunch of volleyball and ate ton of good food.

We worked in Alcochete one day this week, with almost nothing there to work with we had a goal to get 6 Contacts eficaz, people that we could pass by the next time we go there, by the end of the day we had 7! There was a bunch of bull fighting going on that night so the city was all decked out.

We watched the 20 minute restoration video with Conceição and marked her for the 26th, this Saturday! She was super strong Catholic but came to church and opened her heart to the Restored Gospel and now she will be baptized!

We talked with some people from London, England, I was explaining Personal Revelation and quoted James 1:5. I tried to translate it to English but I couldn't do it haha. fortunately Elder Alpizar saved me.

One night we were heading back to the house, and i had a feeling that we should go down a road, we went there then i had a feeling to take another road, the prompting i had was so clear where we needed to go but it was weird because we pretty much did a loop and returned to the same road, i thought that is weird. but we kept walking and Filomeno, a member who is going through some hard trials, walked out of a house and we were able to talk to him for a few minutes and brighten his day a little.

We have been leaving a some open time throughout the day leaving time for Procura-Searching trying to build up our teaching pool and doing tons of contacts, Saturday i talked with 50 people and got 6 Contactos, Eficaz!

Sunday after lunch we left the house to pass a member then i thought to pass another less active neither were home but because of that we walked a different way and ended up running into Helder Sousa, an investigator who has been super busy with work so we hadn't taught him for a while, he had some time so we taught him the Restoration on Park Bench. He is excited to begin reading the Book of Mormon.

Até proximo,
Elder Anderson



Virtual Reality fun!



 Don't worry, it wasn't bought or ingested...
 Early Christmas







​Taking a play out of the adversary´s playbook for Conceição

Monday, August 14, 2017

Transfers

Olá,

This week was our turn for the 40 day mission fast. We fasted Friday lunch to Saturday lunch. It was probably one of the hardest days of my life. Friday was difficult with tons of walking and thirst and Saturday morning was even more difficult, probably the thirstiest I have ever been walking a ton in the blaring sun, But our sacrifice payed off.

Conceição did not accept tithing when we taught her on Thursday, but Sunday (after fasting) at church she said that she is now open to paying tithing and wants to be baptized we will mark her this week!

We worked in Alcochete one night this week just to get a feel for it, it has hardley been touched by missionaries for many years we will begin working a lot more there this transfer.

I stayed in Barreiro for another division this time with the Zone Leaders, We did the a family history flag for 2 hours it was way fun!

We finally made our area booklist by area with all of our Former Investigators. It is super helpful to have for backup plans in every area of the city.

After expressing interest in the Book of Mormon we lost contact with Catalina in Pinhal Novo, we were fasting that day and walked a weird way and ran into her! Such a miracle! We will teach her this week,

At ward correlation meeting on Sunday Presidente Kussy talked about how the branch has the most potential out of every unit in the stake for growth according to the stake president. Another transfer has gone by Elder Alpizar and I are both Staying in Vasco Da Gama! We are excited to keep working and help it become the Vasco Da Gama Ward!

Até Proximo,
Elder Anderson

 Sushi Buffet after Distrist Meeting











Monday, August 7, 2017

Andando

Olá,

After District meeting Tuesday I stayed in Barreiro again for a division with Elder Nascimento. We taught a part-member less-active family (the one that we found on the last division i was there) the restoration, when we got to the first vision the next thing we knew the Less active mom looked at her family and said, "I´m talking serious now, I know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and the Son Jesus Christ, I can not deny the feeling that i had when the elders first taught this to me, I know that this is true." It was a really cool experience.

We taught Vlaviano, who i had taught on the last division in Barreiro also, on the last division, he seemed like a guy without much potential or interest who was just talking with the Elders for company, but this time he was different, a big noticeable change had occurred in him, he had quit smoking and had a real sincere desire to be baptized. But still had a few doubts about tithing, after explaining more about tithing and how no one gets paid in the church, the money just goes to pay for temples and church buildings, materials etc. and sharing a story about the blessings from tithing, when i was younger, He accepted tithing, and will be baptized on Saturday!

After our lesson with Vlaviano we went to the bus stop, it didnt come at the right time, so we waited 15 more minutes and thought we missed it so we decided to start walking, We walked a few minutes then looked back and saw the bus coming but we were far away from both stops, we tried to wave it down but not being at a stop he just kept going, so we had a 50 minute walk back to the house arriving at 10:30 haha

We taught Helder Sousa the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he has been looking for a change in his life and wants to quit smoking and drinking, After the lesson we took his last 10 cigarretes from him and he made a deal to stop.

Portuguese Roads are so weird, every City has the same names of roads, My first area, Sines, Almada, Montijo and Barreiro all have a bunch of the same names of roads. And the numbers are super confusing and skip around, one road in Montijo has Lote 11 then C2 then Number 59...haha its pretty difficult finding addresses.

Our Less Active work payed off this week we had lessons with Filomeno and Bruno and they both came to church Sunday!

I tried to prepare well for the sacrament hymn this week, it was a more difficult hymn so i pronted of a simple version online, I started playing but something didnt sound right and i realized that it wasnt the same hymn...I accidently printed off a simpler version of a english hymn that they didnt have in Portuguese hymnal...Haha I was a little embarrased

A few nights ago searching for a road we met a man named Rogeiro and he began talking about why there is so much confusion religious, the Jehovah witnesses, Catholics, evangelicals, Baptists, IURD, and 1,000+ churches all have the Bible and say they have the truth. How can anyone know which one is right, etc. We briefly explained the Book of Mormon, then marked an appointment with him and taught him the Restoration and explained that the with just the Bible any man can read a few versus and say this is the true way to worship God and he can create a church and that is why we have so many churches today, but With the Bible as one point, the Book of Mormon as the second point, there can only be one line and One Church and that is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Até Proximo,
Elder Anderson

-No pictures this week...:(

Saturday, August 5, 2017

If Any of You Lack Wisdom, Let Him Ask of God

Olá,

Tuesday we went to Pinhal Novo, we were walking down a street when girls walked out of a store and their faces lit up when they saw us so we talked to them and we realized that we had talked with them a few weeks ago at a birthday party for one of our investigator's children, they were also cousins of a member. We asked if we could pass by their house and share a message with the family, their parents let us in and we taught them the Plan of Salvation and invited them to church but unfortunately they couldn't make it.

We hadn't been able to find an address for a former investigator in the Area Book so we called the sisters that were here and there directions were: "Close to a Recent Convert´s house there is an old abandoned building for sale with a photo of a creepy Real Estate lady, down that road you will be able to find it." haha Saturday we were walking back for lunch and i just looked to the left and saw what fit the description of the building and lady so we went down the road and found the address! Ermelim had moved out of the house but, Victor had moved it! We had talked with him a few weeks ago on the road , he was in a hurry so we didn't get his address then, but now we found it! We will teach him this week.

At Zone Conference Presidente Tavares talked about how "Trials of Faith" are part of the mission and how overcoming them makes us stronger and successful in the mission qualifying us for the Celestial Kingdom.

I played the the first 2 hymns on the piano in Sacrament Meeting "Come Follow Me" and "Da Corte Celestial" for the Sacrament hymn, i was a little nervous but it went well and i was able to play it smooth with no big mistakes.

Elder James who served in Vasco Da Gama for 6 months 5 years ago came back to visit and attended church here yesterday, It was fun to hear more about the area and how the branch has grown over the years.

We have received a lot of junk from a lot of people this week about the Restored Gospel. A lot of people say something like: That Jon Smith (Joseph Smith lol) was a false prophet that the bible prophesied about or The Bible is the only true Book of Scripture, the Book of Mormon is a book from man not God... 

It is my testimony that Jesus Christ called Joseph Smith to be his prophet here on earth to restore his true church on the "Foundation of Prophets and Apostles" Ephesians 2:20, that the Book of Mormon is true and was written by the power and authority of God, "No evil man could have written it and no good man could have written it without the help of God" -Jeffrey R. Holland, Matthew 7:20 "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." The Book of Mormon is a "fruit" or evidence that these things are true. There are 1,000 proofs that it is true but as the Bible says in 1 John 5:6 "And it is the Spirit that beareth witnessbecause the Spirit is truth." The Spirit of God is how we truly learned and come to know the truth of things and as Moroni wrote at the end of The Book of Mormon: 

"4 And when ye shall receive these things, would exhort yothat ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are notrueand if ye shall ask with sincere heartwith real intenthaving faith in Christhe will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power othe Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye maknow the truth of all things."
James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdomlehim ask of God."

Até Proximo,
Elder Anderson